Munster have bowed to the inevitable and left new signing Gerhard van den Heever out of their 38-man Heineken Cup squad.

The South African winger has agreed a two-year contract but will not arrive in Ireland until after the Reds have played their opening two games in the Heineken Cup in October, as he is still involved in the Currie Cup with Western Province.

Munster can include him into the squad for the rest of the pool stages of the tournament, but they will have to make a space for him by omitting one of the 38 players they named in their original squad.

Munster have included prop James Cronin in the European squad as reward for his exciting start to the season. Cronin was one of three additional players nominated ahead of the knockout stages for last year's competition.

Scrum-half Cathal Sheridan, another late inclusion last season, and development hooker Duncan Casey are also included in the 38-man squad registered with the ERC this week.

Tommy O'Donnell has not been named as he is set to miss at least three months with a knee injury.